On Wednesday, 26 August, the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union communicated to Member States the first draft of a special agreement on the proposal for a regulation “for a sustainable rail market” as presented by the European Commission last June (see EUROPE 12513/13).
Berlin intends to take advantage of the next meeting of the EU Council's working group on land transport, scheduled for 1 September, to “finalise the discussion” over this short text, which aims to provide support to rail companies that now face difficulties as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In its draft special agreement, a copy of which EUROPE has obtained, the Presidency explains that it is operating according to “ambitious planning, which would rely on a first reading position of the European Parliament as soon as during its Plenary week of 14 September”.
The draft special agreement in question makes only slight modifications and some clarifications to the Commission’s original proposal. These, in essence, intend to allow companies in the sector to be exempted from a series of royalties.
The new version of the text provides, in particular, that Member States shall notify the European Commission, no later than three months after the date of entry into force of the Regulation, of the various measures that are taken. Any subsequent modifications or measures will also have to be notified, states the German draft special agreement.
The reference period – during which these measures can be applied – has not been changed and still runs from 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2020. The original text gave the European Commission the possibility to extend this reference period by means of delegated acts.
The German Presidency is considering whether this period can be extended again. It suggests, however, that the reference period can only be extended by a maximum of six months and that an extension would not be possible later than 18 months after the entry into force of the Regulation.
With a view to a second extension of the reference period, the new text requires infrastructure managers to provide the European Commission with a new set of data on the use of their networks three months before the end of the new reference period. This is “to allow the Commission to assess the development of the situation during any prolongation of the reference period”.
The draft special agreement can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/3b2AMeH (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)